Just days before the inauguration of George Bush, residents
of the primarily black section of Miami named Overtown began
rioting over the shooting death of a black motorcyclist by white
police officers. Some in the media took the Overtown issue to
an extreme, charging the riots were a consequence of the disregard for
the poor and underclass. ABC's Richard Threlkeld went one step
further. He found the real villain to be Ronald Reagan and his
administration's policies, and for that receives the February
Janet Cooke Award.

On January 20 Threlkeld was in Miami to learn, in Peter
Jennings words, "how the new President's remarks might play in a
place like Overtown." Jennings noted that "in his speech today,
President Bush tried to reach beyond the crowd of well wishers
to another America where the problems of poverty and crime and
homelessness are still unresolved." True enough, Overtown qualifies
as such a place; but Threlkeld's examination of the black area
quickly became a condemnation of Reagan's overall civil rights
and economic policies. Threlkeld used sweeping rhetorical
judgments without any attempt at balance.

Threlkeld's first words set the tone for his entire report:
"There wasn't much of an inaugural audience today in Overtown,
which like much of black America has not felt part of the life
of this nation for a long time." Why is that so? Threlkeld
alleged: "After eight years of what many see as the Reagan
Administration's benign neglect of the poor and studied indifference to
civil rights, a lot of those who lived through this week in
Overtown seemed to think the best thing about George Bush is
that he is not Ronald Reagan."

After putting on several citizens to support the assertion,
Threlkeld concluded: "There is an Overtown in every big city in
America -- pockets of misery made even meaner and more desperate
the past eight years." As for Bush's inaugural address, he
added: "In this place, the response to the promise of a new
President of an offered hand is 'show me.' Overtown's already shown
this week there's a price to be paid when the Overtowns of America
are too long overlooked."

If Threlkeld had been interested he could have easily located
many blacks who have benefitted from Reagan's policies. As Wall Street Journal editorial writer Joseph Perkins recently pointed out in a Policy Review
article, "most debates about the state of black Americans focus
on negative indicators" and "this emphasis offers a very skewed
picture of black progress."

Census Bureau statistics show that the Reagan years have been
a boom time for the vast majority of black Americans. Median
black family income has increased by more than nine percent in
constant dollars since 1981. (During the Carter Presidency,
black family income dropped by more than five percent). From 1985 to
1987, middle class black families saw their real incomes jump by
approximately ten percent per year. In this decade alone, the pool
of upwardly mobile blacks has grown by more than a third. It
was trend even evident to CNN's Jeff Levine who stated on
January 15: "There are signs of an emerging black bourgeoisie.
For the first time, the majority of blacks can call themselves
middle class."

As for black unemployment, Labor Department figures show that
it has dropped by 25 percent during the Reagan years. That
translates into more than two million new jobs. While the black
poverty rate increased somewhat at the beginning of Reagan's
term, Census statistics find it has begun to fall considerably and is
now below the 1981 level, when Carter's policies were still in
effect.

But Threlkeld failed to offer anyone airtime to describe
these trends. He spoke of a "studied indifference to civil
rights," but neglected to mention the strives toward equality
that blacks have made in the work place. Perkins noted that
black professional and managerial classes have burgeoned in the
1980s, as has black college enrollment.

The CNN story by Levine featured many middle class blacks
"climbing the corporate ladder" who have "overcome the burden of
racial discrimination." ABC's Mike Von Fremd, reporting from
Alabama, found: "Today, when you watch Montgomery's children
together in school, look at its streets, or eat in its
restaurants, you see a community that has achieved at least part of
Dr. King's dream."

When reached by MediaWatch, Threlkeld defended
his story: "We have a difference of opinion. The research we've
done over the years is to the contrary. Not just blacks, but the
poorest fifth have done worse under Reagan. Public opinion polls
show time and again that the vast majority are victims of benign
neglect." But Threlkeld would not provide any statistics to prove
his point, nor was he willing to discuss official Labor or Census
numbers: "If we want to get into a contest over
statistics...you'll have to drop me a letter and through our
research department we'll do it."

He contended that his report was meant to examine only
Overtown and little else: "Of course there is a large black
middle class But indicators show that things are manifestly worse
in places like Overtown....Our point was being in Overtown."
Despite the substance of his story, Threlkeld tried to deny he cast
blame: "I don't necessarily blame Ronald Reagan or Reagan's
administration ....[The report] says a lot of [blacks in Overtown] blame
him."

But why cover Overtown and not cover the stable black middle
class that has grown by leaps and bounds this decade? Threlkeld
agreed that the news media "ought to cover every aspect," but
saw no need to expand his effort: "This was a piece we thought
would be interesting to do because it dominated that week." What
about a separate piece focusing on a middle class black
neighborhood to get reaction from them on Bush's inauguration? He didn't
see any need: "But there weren't riots there." Apparently when
ABC News wants to learn how blacks fared under Reagan and what
they think of the new President, the only appropriate place to
survey is a poor, riot-stricken area. Need we say more?

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